Chapter Text
September, 22 of 2008
A lot can happen in the span of a moment. Life routine unfolds. People laugh. People cry. People marry. People are born. People die. Some people lose everything in a heartbeat.
Not a lot of people are on the road on dark chilly nights in the countryside roads of Busan.
A storm struck the Busan region and a single car was making its way through the downpour. The windshield wipers were furiously washing the rain away from the driver's view and the headlights trying to make out the road ahead – in vain.
It didn't help the woman seated in the front seat that her thirteen year old daughter was hollering with all her might from the backseat.
"Mommy, please." She cried in an attempt to reason her mother. "Why are you being like this? Where are we going?"
She willingly had left her home with her mother when the latter had urged her to come with her but soon had realized something was off when she saw her mom had packed both of their stuff in a rush. The suitcases were sitting next to her on the backseat.
The thirty-something woman shut her eyes out of frustration before answering. "We're going to go to Seoul. I'll meet someone there and then you and I are going to leave Korea."
That only worsened the little girl's cries. "But I don't want to leave Korea; I want to stay here with you and Daddy!"
The woman's hands gripped the steering wheel, whitening her knuckles. She locked her gaze with her daughter's in the rearview mirror. "Your father is a bad person; do you understand me, Bora? He is a dangerous man; we can't stay with him anymore."
That made no sense whatsoever in Bora's mind. "No, he's my dad. He loves us. Let's go back, please!"
"We must never go back. Ever." She let out in a shaky breath. "Stop crying, sweetheart. Mommy knows what she's doing." There was a desperate edge to her tone. She seemed to be trying to convince herself more than her daughter.
"What are we going to do in Seoul?" Bora let out through her tears.
Her mother forced a smile in an attempt to soothe her daughter. "We're going to build a new life together. I'll protect you."
"Protect me from what? Stop the car!" The girl was screaming now as she fumbled to unfasten her seatbelt. The woman turned around and she was screaming too now, tears rolling down her cheeks.
She looks crazed, was the last thought that passed Bora's mind before two bright headlights coming from the opposite direction blinded her vision and a cry echoed, hers or her mother's, she couldn't recall. What she remembered was two vehicles clashing one another, her seatbelt digging in her shoulder, glass shattering, her head spinning around as the car rolled over multiple times before ending its way in a ditch. She thought she heard footsteps but she wasn't sure because she was lured into darkness.
A lot can happen in the span of a moment. Life routine unfolds. People laugh. People cry. People marry. People are born. People die. Some people lose everything in a heartbeat.